Half Marathon Training Halted

From now on, just call me stubborn runner. Mhm, you heard me right. Hungry is no longer my first name.

Why? Because, despite my hamstring being all, “Hey something’s not really right with me,” for quite some time now, I’ve kept on running like it’s nobody’s business.

I mean, OK I’m not that stubborn. When I know I need to rest, I rest. But I’ve never been in any pain at all while running. Only after. Actually, I wouldn’t even call it pain. Just “weird, that kind of doesn’t feel right, muscle feelings.” And until I embarked on my first failed run yesterday, I’d been coughing it up to a lack of post-run stretching and just general muscle fatigue.

Well, I got the inkling that something must really be wrong when yesterday, one of the other trainers at the gym noticed an abnormality in my gait while I was walking. He asked me what was wrong with my left leg. I figured, if someone else could see that something wasn’t quite right, then there really must be something quite wrong. So today, I took a little stroll into the physical therapy office that’s attached to the gym at which I work. You know, I just wanted to see if someone in there could maybe like, “ease out some of the weird tension in my left leg.” HA! “Ease out the tension…” Good one!

Apparently I have a pretty significant strain in my left hamstring, because when I tell you that the physical therapist’s eyes popped out of his head just from looking at my muscle, I’m not even exaggerating a little bit. They literally popped out of his head. (OK, fine. His eyes just got really wide.) But seriously, he was blown away by how swollen part of my hamstring had become.

So, for the next week or so, I’ll be spending some quality time in the physical therapy office undergoing heat therapy, ultrasound, TENS treatments, and muscle massage. Wow, now Ireallyfeel like a runner. Only, that’s ironic because, I can’t run.

I’m not allowed to run for at least two weeks. This is my face right now:

You know, like, “I’m really sad about this, but I’m accepting the reality of this tragic fate, because I sort of should’ve known all along.”

But the good news is, I’m not worried about my training. In a few days, I can start cross-training with cycling. I’ll also probably start swimming more often. My main priority right now is going to be to keep up my cardiovascular endurance. And of course there’s weight training too. Something tells me my upper body is going to start looking a lot more shredded all of a sudden.

For me, the next few days are going to be all about rest and recovery. Which, won’t be too sad for you all, because instead of Hungry Running Recaps, I’ll have more time to test out and share a few new yummy eats.

When it comes to healthy eating habits, I talk a lot about listening to your body, and the same can be said for training. If you’re body needs rest, it will tell you. Listen to it. Don’t be stubborn. One or two extra days of rest to avoid injury are always better than having to put everything on hold for a much more serious amount of recovery time.

Lesson learned.

Have you ever had to put training on hold because of a running related injury?

Post Navigation

Katie is a marathoner, former personal trainer, and a lover of all things food. She currently writes about fitness, health, and running for TheActiveTimes.com and it's her goal to help you become educated about and fall in love with fitness!